Feasibility of setting up generic alert levels for maximum skin dose in fluoroscopically guided procedures

PurposeThe feasibility of setting-up generic, hospital-independent dose alert levels to initiate vigilance on possible skin injuries in interventional procedures was studied for three high-dose procedures (chemoembolization (TACE) of the liver, neuro-embolization (NE) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)) in 9 European countries.MethodsGafchromic® films and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) were used to determine the Maximum Skin Dose (MSD). Correlation of the online dose indicators (fluoroscopy time, kerma- or dose-area product (KAP or DAP) and cumulative air kerma at interventional reference point (K_a,r)) with MSD was evaluated and used to establish the alert levels corresponding to a MSD of 2 Gy and 5 Gy. The uncertainties of alert levels in terms of DAP and K_a,r, and uncertainty of MSD were calculated.ResultsAbout 20–30% of all MSD values exceeded 2 Gy while only 2–6% exceeded 5 Gy. The correlations suggest that both DAP and K_a,r can be used as a dose indicator for alert levels (Pearson correlation coefficient p mostly >0.8), while fluoroscopy time is not suitable (p mostly <0.6). Generic alert levels based on DAP (Gy cm²) were suggested for MSD of both 2 Gy and 5 Gy (for 5 Gy: TACE 750, PCI 250 and NE 400). The suggested levels are close to the lowest values published in several other studies. The uncertainty of the MSD was estimated to be around 10–15% and of hospital-specific skin dose alert levels about 20–30% (with coverage factor k = 1).ConclusionsThe generic alert levels are feasible for some cases but should be used with caution, only as the first approximation, while hospital-specific alert levels are preferred as the final approach.     

Artificial Intelligence in magnetic Resonance guided Radiotherapy: Medical and physical considerations on state of art and future perspectives

Over the last years, technological innovation in Radiotherapy (RT) led to the introduction of Magnetic Resonance-guided RT (MRgRT) systems.Due to the higher soft tissue contrast compared to on-board CT-based systems, MRgRT is expected to significantly improve the treatment in many situations. MRgRT systems may extend the management of inter- and intra-fraction anatomical changes, offering the possibility of online adaptation of the dose distribution according to daily patient anatomy and to directly monitor tumor motion during treatment delivery by means of a continuous cine MR acquisition.Online adaptive treatments require a multidisciplinary and well-trained team, able to perform a series of operations in a safe, precise and fast manner while the patient is waiting on the treatment couch.Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to rapidly contribute to MRgRT, primarily by safely and efficiently automatising the various manual operations characterizing online adaptive treatments. Furthermore, AI is finding relevant applications in MRgRT in the fields of image segmentation, synthetic CT reconstruction, automatic (on-line) planning and the development of predictive models based on daily MRI.This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current AI integration in MRgRT from a medical physicist’s perspective. Medical physicists are expected to be major actors in solving new tasks and in taking new responsibilities: their traditional role of guardians of the new technology implementation will change with increasing emphasis on the managing of AI tools, processes and advanced systems for imaging and data analysis, gradually replacing many repetitive manual tasks.     

“互联网+”背景下“微生物学实验”课程的改革与实践

"互联网+"技术应用于教育使高校教学在教学场景、教师角色和学生学习特点等方面发生巨大变化。为适应"互联网+"时代的教学特点以及学生个性化学习和创新能力培养的需要,将智慧教学工具引入到"微生物学实验"课程教学以及在互联网学习平台上建设在线开放课程。雨课堂教学工具将智能手机转变为学生的学习工具,提高了学生学习的积极性、加强了师生间的互动、实现了教学效果的及时反馈,学生的学习数据有助于教师更客观地评价学习效果和更好地开展个性化教学。其次,在江苏省在线课程中心平台上开展了江苏省在线开放课程"微生物学模块化实验"的建设工作。课程建设需及时更新教学理念,提高教师参与课程建设的积极性;加强在线开放课程建设的岗前培训;课程内容应考虑大学生的学习特点、制作成本和学习成本等因素。在线课程的建设为开展翻转课堂教学和混合式教学提供支撑条件,为"互联网+"背景下的"微生物学实验"教学改革奠定基础。     

Semi-global Parameterization of Online Handwriting Features for Characterizing Early-Stage Alzheimer and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background

Because of the rich set of spatiotemporal features it allows to extract, online handwriting is being increasingly investigated for characterizing neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson and Alzheimer. The state of the art on the latter is dominated by methods that extract global (average) kinematic parameters, and then apply basic classification techniques or standard statistical tests to assess the statistical significance of each parameter in discriminating a pathological population from a healthy control one.

谷胱甘肽通过抑制重型儿童哮喘巨噬细胞凋亡发挥保护作用

目的探究GSH对重型儿童哮喘气道巨噬细胞凋亡的影响。方法通过GSH检测试剂盒检测重型及轻型哮喘患儿巨噬细胞AM内的GSSG水平,并采用MTT法检测巨噬细胞AM的细胞活力,Western blot法检测凋亡相关蛋白Cleaved caspase 3的表达情况。结果 (1)重型哮喘患儿的吞噬细胞内GSSG水平显著高于轻型患儿;(2)哮喘患儿巨噬细胞AW的细胞活力与轻型哮喘患儿相比显著降低,且体外补充的GSH可以逆转细胞活力降低;(3)体外补充GSH可以逆转重型哮喘患儿巨噬细胞凋亡蛋白Cleaved caspase 3的表达增多。结论体外补充GSH可以抑制重型哮喘患儿气道巨噬细胞凋亡,发挥保护作用。     

Citizen Science

Citizen science Citizen science is performed on a honorary basis. Citizen scientists (”Citizen Science proper“) have no professional employment in the relevant field of research and differ very much in their educational background, specific knowledge and amount of time dedicated to the subject of research. Today, citizen science has become especially important in some fields neglected by professional science, e.g. regional research. Recently, another form of citizen science has gained much attention, in which usually many citizen scientist are active (”Citizen Science light“). Internet, smartphone and georeferencing by GPS are important tools for collecting, documenting and communicating the observation data. Besides the scientific results, social relevance through participation and information of citizens (e.g. for conservation issues) play a very important role in these projects. The recently strongly increasing interest in and contribution to citizen science plays an important role to strengthen the link and communication between science and society.     

Real‐time pH monitoring of industrially relevant enzymatic reactions in a microfluidic side‐entry reactor (μSER) shows potential for pH control

Monitoring and control of pH is essential for the control of reaction conditions and reaction progress for any biocatalytic or biotechnological process. Microfluidic enzymatic reactors are increasingly proposed for process development, however typically lack instrumentation, such as pH monitoring. We present a microfluidic side‐entry reactor (μSER) and demonstrate for the first time real‐time pH monitoring of the progression of an enzymatic reaction in a microfluidic reactor as a first step towards achieving pH control. Two different types of optical pH sensors were integrated at several positions in the reactor channel which enabled pH monitoring between pH 3.5 and pH 8.5, thus a broader range than typically reported. The sensors withstood the thermal bonding temperatures typical of microfluidic device fabrication. Additionally, fluidic inputs along the reaction channel were implemented to adjust the pH of the reaction. Time‐course profiles of pH were recorded for a transketolase and a penicillin G acylase catalyzed reaction. Without pH adjustment, the former showed a pH increase of 1 pH unit and the latter a pH decrease of about 2.5 pH units. With pH adjustment, the pH drop of the penicillin G acylase catalyzed reaction was significantly attenuated, the reaction condition kept at a pH suitable for the operation of the enzyme, and the product yield increased. This contribution represents a further step towards fully instrumented and controlled microfluidic reactors for biocatalytic process development.     

miRDOA:集数据存储与在线分析于一体的综合型microRNA数据库

miRNA(microRNA)是一类小的非编码RNA,普遍存在于动物、植物等多个物种中,研究表明在原生生物以及病毒中也有miRNA。miRNA在生物的成长、发育、细胞凋亡、神经紊乱、癌症等多个方面都起到至关重要的作用,miRNA还可作为Biomarker应用于癌症等疾病的诊断和治疗。miRDOA (miRNA Database and Online Analysis)数据库存储了二百多个物种的miRNA相关信息,提供了基本的浏览和搜索功能。用户可以通过物种来浏览miRNA相关数据,也可以通过miRNA、靶基因或者序列进行检索。除此之外,miRDOA还提供了在线分析模块,主要对高通量测序数据进行初步分析,在此基础上,添加了靶基因预测、表达谱数据差异分析,以及在线BLAST功能。miRDOA是一个完全免费的开源的数据库网站,并实时更新。